Milltown Spar accused further remanded

The quartet who were allegedly in a car stopped by police near Coleraine in the early hours of Tuesday July 21 following a report of a break-in at Milltown Spar in Ballymoney.

Three of the accused gave their address as Foyleview Apartments, Strand Road, Londonderry. They are Iulian Cojocaru (30), Ionut Guita (26) and Iordan Stamate (26). A fourth man - Chiracu Dumitru (28) is of no fixed abode.

They are all charged with the burglary of Milltown Spar at Milltown Road, Ballymoney, where around £2,000 was stolen.

A detective constable told a previous court that around 4am a Milltown Spar employee disturbed a burglary in progress and a masked person was observed inside.

Entry had been gained via the roof and the alarm disabled and an “extremely large amount” of coins and an amount of notes were taken after the CCTV system was damaged.

Around 25 minutes later at Loughan Road near Coleraine police stopped a Vauxhall Vectra containing the four accused and a large bag containing cash was found, it was alleged.

At Coleraine Magistrates Court on Monday August 17, the case was further adjourned to September as a full file in the case is still awaited and the men remain in custody.